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Egyptian OToelisk 



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CENTRAL PARK, 

NEW YORK. 



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DEDICATED TO 

GEN. L. P. di OESNOLA, 

BY 

CHAELES W. DAELING, 

Corresponding Secretary 

OP 

The Oneida Historical Society, 

TJTICA, N. Y. 



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Alabama Historical Society Tuscaloosa, Ala. 

New Jersey " '* Newark, N. J. 

State " " Iowa City, Iowa. 

Bangor " " Bangor, Maine. 

N. Hampshire " " Concord, N. H. 

Middlebury " '* Middlebury, Vt. 

New Eng. ' ' and Genealogical Society Boston, Mass. 

Newport Genealogical Society Newport, R. I. 

New Haven Colony Historical Society New Haven, Conn. 

Am. Numismatic and Archaelogical Society New York, N. Y. 

American Ethnological Society " " 

Biiffalo Historical Society Buffalo, N. Y. 

Chautauqua Society of His. and Nat. Science Jamestown, N. Y. 

Linnaean Scientific and Historical Society Lancaster, Pa. 

Numismatic and Antiquarian " Philadelphia, Pa. 

Wyoming Historical and Geological " Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 

Maryland " " Baltimore, Md. 

Virginia " " Richmond, Va. 

Georgia " " Savannah, Ga. 

Tennessee " " Nashville, Tenn. 

Ohio State Archaeological " Columbus, Ohio. 

Indiana Historical and Geological " Indianapolis, Ind. 

Wisconsin State " " Madison, Wis. 

Minnesota " " St. Paul, Minn. 

Kansas " " Topeka, Kas. 

Nebraska State " " Lincoln, Neb, 

CaUfornia " " Berkeley, Cal« 

American Historical Association. 

(Organized at Saratoga, N. Y., Sept. 10, 1884.) 



THE CENTRAL PARK OBELISK. 



I am standing, Egypt, standing on my tottering base of stone, 
As a relic of the ancient past, alas ! I stand alone ; 
Yet I reach beyond this hemisphere, three thousand years and more, 
Pointing backward, thro' those centuries, to the halcyon days of yore. 

I bear upon my time-worn breast, strange characters, forsooth ; 
Tho' ha:pd to read, yet be assured, the tale is one of truth ; 
I remember Cleopatra, how she floated on the Nile ; 
With Mark Anthony, her lover, glided she, mile after mile. 

They say I was her " Needle," but it's needless so to speak, 
For this was a wild fancy ; a mere Egyptian freak 
Of imagination, quite as strange as Aladdin and his lamp ; 
Sure, she could not handle me with ease, at home or in the camp 

Cut and sculptured by Egyptians, from a Syene granite block, 
I yet preserve a sturdy front, enduring as a rock. 
The oval of the Third Thothmes, I carry on my head, 
And this is true as gospel, for by scholars it is read. 



It is red, also, the granite, from which mj shape was cut ; 
Old father " Time" has been at work ; there always is a but — 
The rolling years have made a change, and now my present hue 
Is not the same as in those days when I was fresh and new. 

Once I stood at Heliopolis, a city of great note, 

And was brought to Alexandria, by Caesar, on a float ; 

He placed me in position, before a temple there ; 

Then he died, and left me standing in a world of sin and care. 

My mate was standing with me, till Mohammed Ali gave 
Her to the English Christian dogs, oh ! how I then did rave. 
She has fallen, Egypt, fallen, from her pinnacle of state, 
And therefore these — the English, are full worthy of my hate. 

They hammered her, they twisted her, they trampled on her head. 
Until her very heart of stone most pitifully bled. 
They shipped her to their British isle, and when she did arrive, 
They shouted, that wild populace, " Glory to the great Khedive." 

Soon after, inalheureuseQnent, a naval man in blue, 
By leave of reigning Pasha, shipped me to pastures new. 
He trailed me aft a sailing craft, for I am large in size ; 
And thus did I, upon the wave, for ten days fall and rise. 



6 

I floated, as did Noali, in his quondam home, the ark, 
But in course of time, I happily arrived at Central Park ; 
I am here beyond the billow, and the noise of ocean roar, 
And a new career now opens on this free and friendly shore. 

I accept the situation, and I rear my lonely head 

Aloft, an ancient relic, o'er the living and the dead. 

I remember, well remember, once I stood on Egypt's sand. 

But my present mission is to teach the people of this land. 

I remain a silent witness of the mighty men of old ; 
Of those long forgotten people, much can even now be told. 
Before Neptune's famous temple I originally stood. 
Where Egypt's famous sons obtained their spiritual food. 

I had still a third dear sister, and her name was Arsinoe, 
She too, at Alexandria, was viewed by friend and foe ; 
But Ptolemy Philadelphus sent his loved one from her home, 
And gave her to a " Tribune" in the city of old Rome. 

Hereafter no attraction, nor of mortal man the fear. 
Shall make me fall or falter in my firm foundation here ; 
I'll stand until the end of time, when all things earthly rust. 
And then, oh children now unborn, I'll mingle with your dust. 







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Gen. C. W. Cabling, Utica, N. Y. 

Dear Sir: — I beg to thank you for your beautiftil poem on the Egj'iDtian Obe- 
lisk, which has the true ring. 

Very truly yours, 

HENEY PHILLIPS, Je., 
{Honorary) Cor. Sec. of the American Philosophical Society; and of the Antiquarian So 
ciety of Philadelphia, Pa, 



014 220 477 



4 



LIBRARY OF CONGREbb 



014 220 



477 



Hollinger 

pH 8.5 

Mm Run F3.1719 



